Keynote Speakers

International Keynote Speakers

Professor Liesbet Goubert

Ghent University
Belgium

Professor Liesbet Goubert is Full Professor in the Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology at Ghent University, Belgium (www.ghplab.ugent.be). She completed her PhD in 2004, in which she focussed on the role of psychosocial risk factors for the development of chronic low back pain (e.g. fear, catastrophising). In the last decade, she shifted her main research focus to the investigation of interpersonal dynamics of (chronic) pain and chronic illness. She has published numerous studies on the role of others (e.g., parents, health care providers, partners) in the context of paediatric and adult pain. More recently, she became very interested in the study of psychosocial resilience mechanisms that may account for the sustainment of adaptive functioning and well-being in the presence of pain. In her research she makes use of a variety of methods, including diary, experimental, questionnaire, and observational methodology.

She developed, together with (inter)national colleagues, different theoretical models on the role of the social context in chronic conditions which have been published in high-impact journals (e.g., Goubert et al., PAIN, 2005; Hadjistavropoulos et al., Psychological Bulletin, 2011; Goubert et al., Journal of Pain, 2011; Simons et al., Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 2016) and books (e.g., Oxford Textbook of Paediatric Pain, Encyclopedia of Pain, The Social Neuroscience of Empathy). Her scholarly contributions have been recognised with several scientific awards, including the IASP-SIG Early Career Award in Pediatric Pain, the EFIC Grünenthal Grant Award for young scientists carrying out innovative clinical pain research, and the Prize "Institut Belge de la Douleur-UPSA-Belgisch Pijninstituut. In May 2017, she was invited to deliver the highly prestigious British Pain Society Annual Lecture at the 50th Anniversary Annual Scientific Meeting of the British Pain Society, and she received the British Pain Society Medal in recognition for her outstanding contributions to the clinical science of pain.

She has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Belgian Pain Society (Belgian IASP Chapter) from 2006-2012; since 2010 she is a member of the scientific committee of the Belgian Pain Society. Since 2008, she is an international collaborator of the Strategic Training Program on Pain in Child Health (PICH) of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Currently, she is the chair of the Scientific Program Committee of two international conferences: the 11th International Symposium on Pediatric Pain (July 2017, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) and the European Pediatric Psychology Conference (September 2018, Ghent, Belgium). Since 2014, she has been appointed as the academic secretary of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at Ghent University.

Professor Frank Huygen

Erasmus Medical Centre
The Netherlands

Frank Huygen (MD, PhD, FIPP, FFPMCAI (hon)) is working as an Anesthesiologist pain specialist in the University Hospital Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. In 2009 he was appointed as Professor in Anesthesiology at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. He is Director of the Centre of Pain Medicine, a multidisciplinary pain clinic specialising in acute, chronic benign and oncologic pain and palliative care. Professor Huygen graduated as fellow of interventional pain practice and is certified for complex invasive pain treatment modalities like neuromodulation and epiduroscopy. He is especially interested in CRPS and has been involved in several research lines and theses focusing especially on CRPS, neuropathic and oncologic pain.

He is involved in the education and training of medical and anesthesia students and fellows. He is the past elected president of the Dutch Anaesthesia Pain Society, was chairman of a national disease management program on neuropathic pain, is chairman of a national multidisciplinary guideline commitee on mechanical low back pain and is a member of several international scientific advisory boards on pain and pain treatment. He is and was involved in the organisation of several national and international symposia and congresses on pain.

Professor Stephen McMahon

King's College London
UK

Professor Stephen McMahon is Sherrington Professor of Physiology at King’s College London. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. His major research interest is pain mechanisms. He has a long standing interest in identifying pain mediators and studying their neurobiological actions. He has worked extensively on the role of NGF (neutralizing antibodies now in multiple phase III trials), ATP acting at P2X3 receptors (receptor antagonists now in multiple phase II and III trials). His current research is focused on neuro-immune interactions, particularly the neurobiology of chemokines, and the genetics and epigenetics of pain.

Professor McMahon currently directs the Wellcome Trust Pain Consortium, and prior to this, the London Pain Consortium, a collection of leading pain researchers working to better understand chronic pain mechanisms and improve treatments. He was academic lead on a EU-IMI consortium called Europain, a collaboration of scientists working in academia and industry, 2009-2015.

Professor McMahon is editor of Wall and Melzack’s Textbook of Pain, 5th and 6th Edition (7th Edition in preparation). He has published more than 300 research articles in scientific journals including, Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Neuroscience, Cell, Neuron and the Journal of Neuroscience and has an H-index of 94 (https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=Qz9HihUAAAAJ&hl=en)

Dr Tonya Palermo

University of Washington
USA

Dr Tonya Palermo is a pediatric psychologist and Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at University of Washington with adjunct appointments in Pediatrics and Psychiatry. She also serves as Associate Director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. She directs the Pediatric Pain & Sleep Innovations Lab that aims to improve the lives of children with pain and their families through developing, evaluating, and disseminating innovative treatments that can be delivered at low cost.

She is particularly interested in behavioral, psychosocial and family factors that affect pain perception, daily functioning, sleep quality, and quality of life in children and adolescents. She is an NIH-funded investigator who is currently developing and testing psychological and family interventions for youth with chronic pain. Dr. Palermo has published over 170 peer-reviewed articles and two books on cognitive-behavioral therapy for chronic pain in children and adolescents. Dr. Palermo is active in training clinician-scientists at the postdoctoral and junior faculty level. Dr. Palermo has served on the Executive Boards of the Society of Pediatric Psychology, ISRII, and the American Pain Society, serves as Editor for the Journal of Pediatric Psychology, and has been elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association.

National Speakers

Dr Leinani Aiono-le Tagaloa

Auckland Regional Pain Service
New Zealand

Dr Leinani Aiono-le Tagaloa was born and brought up in Samoa (previously Western Samoa) and came to New Zealand to study medicine at age 18. Initially determined to become a paediatrician, after graduating she decided to become a surgeon – which lead to five years unsuccessfully pursuing Surgical Part I’s before some gentle (and persistent!) persuasion from a senior anaesthetist lead her to apply for anaesthetic training. Dr Aiono-le Tagaloa qualified FANZCA in 2005 and went overseas to the US for an obstetric anaesthesia fellowship at Stanford University, followed by two years as Assistant Professor at US Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

In 2014, Dr Aiono-le Tagaloa began her career in Pain Medicine with a fellowship at The Auckland Regional Pain Service. She graduated FFPMANZCA in April 2016 and splits her work week between chronic pain at The Auckland Regional Pain Service and acute pain/anaesthesia at Auckland Hospital. She is also a council member for the New Zealand Pain Society and the current Editor-in-Chief of Ngau Mamae, quarterly publication of the New Zealand Pain Society.

Dr Aiono-le Tagaloa has always had a passionate desire to relieve suffering; she vividly remembers watching a movie on the Holocaust and the impact this had on her as a teenager. In her words; "I decided then and there that that I was going to become a doctor. Throughout both my surgical training years and my anaesthetic training I gravitated towards exploring methods of better managing perioperative pain, frequently feeling frustrated when simple biomechanical measures did not work . As a pain specialist I have learned a radically different and far more satisfying approach to patient care, more similar to the ideal that I carried all those years ago when I decided to become a doctor. I am excited about the potential that exists to disseminate and further enhance understanding about pain in all its forms; through collegial discussion, education, research, provision of tools and resources to health professionals and patients, and influencing policy at a governmental level."

Professor Simon Brookes

Flinders University

VIC Australia

Simon Brookes is a Professor of Human Physiology at Flinders University. He was awarded his PhD in 1984 for studies on the nervous system of insects. From this he developed a continuing interest in simple neural circuits. He did post-doctoral research in the Royal London Hospital, then moved to Flinders University in 1988. He has been funded by senior research fellowships from the Gastroenterological Society and NHMRC of Australia. In 2005, he was appointed Professor and Head of Human Physiology at Flinders University. Simon's research focusses on how nerve cells work together to give coordinated control of the organs of the body and how they go wrong in disease. His interests range from the molecular level through to the whole organism. He has worked extensively on 'simple' autonomic and sensory pathways to the gut and has published over 110 papers, chapters and reviews.

Professor Rachelle Buchbinder

Monash University

VIC Australia

Professor Rachelle Buchbinder is a rheumatologist and clinical epidemiologist and an Australian NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow. She is the Director of the Monash Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Cabrini Institute; Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University; Joint Coordinating Editor of Cochrane Musculoskeletal; and current President of the Australian Rheumatology Association. She is a founding member and current Steering Group Chair of the recently established Australia & New Zealand Musculoskeletal (ANZMUSC) Clinical Trial Network.

She combines clinical practice with research in a wide range of multidisciplinary projects relating to arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions as well as improving communication with patients and health literacy. She has a longstanding commitment to knowledge synthesis and implementation of clinical research evidence to guide clinical decision-making and improve patient outcomes. Her current program of work concerns reducing inappropriate or low value care.

Dr Tony Fernando

University of Auckland
New Zealand

Dr Tony Fernando is a psychiatrist and a senior lecturer in Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland. He obtained his medical degree from the University of the Philippines and his psychiatry and sleep training at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been awarded multiple teaching awards by medical students and the faculty of medicine in Auckland.

In 2012, he was awarded by President Aquino of the Philippines for his services to sleep medicine and medical education. In 2015, he received the Chair’s award by the New Zealand Medical Association, the highest recognition given by the association to any doctor in New Zealand for his work on physician wellbeing. In January of 2017, he received temporary ordination as a Buddhist monk in Chanmyay Myaing monastery in Myanmar, where he trained in compassion meditation.

A/Professor Damien Finniss

RNSH & University of Sydney

NSW Australia

A/Professor Damien Finniss (MB BS, PhD, MSc Med, BPhty, BExSc) is a clinician and researcher at the Department of Anaesthesia & Pain Management Research Institute, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney. He is an Associate Professor at Sydney University (Pain Medicine, Northern Clinical School) and Griffith University.

A/Professor Finniss has published numerous papers in International peer reviewed journals and contributed several book chapters in the field of placebo analgesia. He is currently the Chair of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) group on Placebo and regularly presents his work at National and International meetings.

Professor Peter O'Sullivan

Curtin University

WA Australia

Professor O'Sullivan is internationally recognised as a leading clinician, researcher and educator in Physiotherapy, he has published more than 190 research papers, been keynote speaker at 90 national and international conferences and taught in 22 countries on the diagnosis and management of persistent pain disorders.

He and his team conduct clinical research investigating the life course, underlying mechanisms and targeted behavioral management of persistent and disabling musculoskeletal pain disorders.

He has published over 200 papers and numerous book chapters with his team in international peer review journals, has been an invited speaker at more than 90 National and International conferences and has run clinical workshops in over 24 countries. Peter’s passion is translating research into clinical practice.

A/Professor Greta Palmer

Royal Children's Hospital

VIC Australia

Greta Palmer is a paediatric anaesthetist and pain specialist who works at the Royal Children's Hospital (where she is the Deputy Head of the Children's Pain Management Service), and part-time at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Melbourne. She is an Associate Professor with the University of Melbourne and a Research Associate with the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. Her interests are acute and chronic pain management at both centres, including evidence based practice and holistic patient care. She has a research interest in paediatric pharmacokinetics and chronic pain. She is an examiner for the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists' Faculty of Pain and was an editor for the Acute Pain Management Scientific Evidence 4th Edition.